After a four-year decline, album sales jumped slightly in 2004 with 666.7 million albums sold last year, compared to 656.2 million in 2003, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Overall music sales in the U.S. were way up, thanks largely to a significant spike in download sales in 2004 that translated to a gain of 733% over 2003 figures. Last year saw 140,902,000 downloads sold, up from 19,200,000 in 2003. 5,536,000 digital albums were also purchased in 2004. Albums, singles and digital track sales rose to 817 million in 2004, up from 687 million in 2003.
"There were 817 million decisions made to purchase music in 2004," Nielsen Music President Rob Sisco told AP. "That's a number that we haven't seen the likes of in years."
The top selling albums of 2004 included: Usher Confessions (7,978,594); Norah Jones Feels Like Home (3,842,920); and Eminem Encore (3,517,097).
The top downloaded songs of the year included: Hoobastank "The Reason" (379,839); Maroon 5 "This Love" (346,922); and Black Eyed Peas "Let's Get It Started" (328,239).
